New Pal RB Charlie Spegal runs wild as last year's starter watches.

NEW PALESTINE – New Palestine junior Charlie Spegal scores on his first carry Friday night, spinning 360 degrees out of a tackle and sprinting 43 yards for a touchdown. On the sideline, Luke Canfield is watching. He is cheering.

Spegal doesn’t score on his second carry, but does on his third, a 1-yard plunge. He scores on his fifth carry as well, a 33-yard sprint. On the sideline, Luke Canfield is watching. He is cheering.

On his fourth touchdown of the first quarter, Spegal is met in the hole by a Greenfield-Central defender. Spegal lowers his head and runs him over. On his sixth touchdown, a 14-yarder late in the second quarter, Spegal explodes through another big hole created by the New Pal offensive line. A Greenfield-Central defender latches onto the back of his jersey, but Spegal pulls him the final 10 yards into the end zone, like a boat would pull a water skier.

* * *

A year ago, the running back at New Pal ran for 1,764 yards and 29 touchdowns in 11 games. He was a sophomore. Here’s his name: Luke Canfield.

Canfield made the 2017 All-Hoosier Heritage Conference team alongside another sophomore running back, this one from Delta. Here’s his name: Charlie Spegal.

Come with me to the following spring. This is maybe six months ago, and New Pal football coach Kyle Ralph is sitting in his office when a New Pal counselor asks him to the front of the school. A family is here, new in the area, looking for a school for their son. The family’s name is Spegal. The kid's name is Charlie.

Canfield heard the rumors — guess who’s transferring here? — then saw the reality: Charlie Spegal lifting in the New Pal weight room. Understand something: Luke Canfield has been a running back all his life, and a great one, first in the New Palestine Cadet Football League, then for the high school. He scored three varsity touchdowns as a freshman, then 29 as a sophomore. Canfield is humble but engaging, popular on the team.

How this happens, how it brings a team together instead of tearing it apart, is a credit to Canfield. And to Spegal.

First, Spegal.

“Charlie came in here and just did things the right way,” Ralph says. “Very humble, very respectful, didn’t have any expectations or: ‘Hey, I’m an all-state player, I’m Mr. Big Time.’ None of the ego. Our program is built around respect and earning respect, and he worked his way into the team and into the family.”

Spegal is quiet — shy, you’d say. He is grandiose only in competition, like his first weightlifting meet for New Pal, which he won by benching 415 pounds, power-cleaning 315, squatting 575.

“That’s something our kids respect a lot,” Ralph says. “You don’t just show up and do that — it takes years and years of hard work. We have a lot of strong kids, but for his age, a sophomore, that was something where it was almost unbelievable.”

A few weeks later. Football now, a spring scrimmage. Spegal has been hitting teammates in practice — “There were times he’d get someone one-on-one and you’d see our guy get absolutely ejected,” Ralph says — but this is different. This is against another team, and it’s Spegal finding a seam and sprinting downfield for a touchdown, 225 pounds and pulling away.

“One of those moments” Ralph says, “where everybody in attendance — players and coaches — is going, ‘All right, this is going to be a really good thing.’”

And now, Luke Canfield. Make no mistake, he could see what was happening. I mean, look: Charlie Spegal is a once-in-a-lifetime running back, not just for New Pal but for the whole state. He’s destined to smash former Elwood star Sammy Mireles’ all-time IHSAA rushing record of 8,110 yards, potentially topping 9,000 yards if he stays healthy.

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New Palestine Dragons Charlie Spegal (32) moves the ball to the end zone for the first touchdown of the game against the Greenfield-Central Cougars in New Palestine, Ind., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Jenna_Watson/Indy_Star

New Palestine Dragons Luke Canfield (13) works his cornerback position, defending against Greenfield-Central Cougars wide receiver Will Vanduyn (44) during the game against in New Palestine, Ind., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Jenna_Watson/Indy_Star

New Palestine Dragons Zach Neligh (11) passes to an open receiver during their homecoming game against the Greenfield-Central Cougars in New Palestine, Ind., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. Jenna_Watson/Indy_Star

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At Delta he gained 1,958 yards as a freshman, and 2,385 as a sophomore. Now this, this monstrous junior season where he entered Friday’s game ranked ninth nationally in rushing (1,089 in five games) and first — in the country — in touchdowns at 25. Add Friday’s results, and Spegal has run for 1,284 and 31 TD’s in six games.

And Canfield knew what was coming. He knew. He’d been working out at running back and cornerback when Ralph approached him a month before the opener and told him: You’re starting at cornerback.

Which meant: Charlie Spegal is the running back.

“He’s much bigger than I am and also very fast,” Canfield, who goes 5-10 and 168 pounds, says of Spegal. “I wasn’t really surprised when they started him over me. I just went with it. I looked at it as an opportunity to learn a new position and get better at it. Me playing corner is better for the team in the long run, and we have a better chance to go farther in the playoffs.”

First game of the season, first quarter, Kokomo throws at Canfield and he picks it off. His stats on the season: 17 tackles, five pass break-ups, zero drama.

“He’s one of the most unselfish people I know,” Spegal says of Canfield. “He had to completely change his position, and he didn’t show any sign of being irritated or anything. He was all for the team.”

* * *

At New Pal, it’s team over self, results over stats. It’s what Kyle Ralph demands.

It’s the 2013 season, Ralph’s first year at New Pal. It’s Monday of game week, a looming showdown with 7-1 Mount Vernon, and Ralph summons the team’s leading rusher, a senior running back named Nolan Hill.

“I need you to play nose guard,” Ralph tells Hill, and tells him why: Mt. Vernon’s offensive line is massive, allowing the Marauders to average 40.6 points per game, and New Pal’s defensive front can’t stack up. Not without Hill, who goes 5-8, 205 pounds, all muscle.

“Realistically,” Ralph tells Hill, “if this pans out, you’ll never carry the ball for this school again. Your time running the ball is over. We need you full speed at nose guard.”

That’s what Ralph told Nolan Hill on Oct. 14, 2013. Now he’s about to finish the story. This is what he told me this week:

“Nolan thought about it for about three seconds,” Ralph says, “and he goes …”

New Palestine Dragons Luke Canfield (13) works his cornerback position, defending against Greenfield-Central Cougars wide receiver Will Vanduyn (44) during the game against in New Palestine, Ind., Friday, Sept. 21, 2018.(Photo: Jenna_Watson/Indy_Star)

Ralph pauses.

“I’ll never forget this,” he’s telling me, “and I get emotional, because you hope it sinks in, you know? (Hill) goes: ‘I don’t even care. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.’”

New Pal shut out Mt. Vernon, 20-0.

Now it’s the 2014 season. Senior linebacker Noah Grable is coming off a school-record 18 sacks in 2013. New Pal returns all three linebackers and has a fourth, junior Joe Izbicki, ready to play. But the Dragons have a hole on the defensive line — and Ralph wants Grable to fill it.

“We asked Noah to put a hand on the ground for us — make our defense better — and he didn’t say a peep about it,” Ralph says. “He goes: ‘Absolutely. Send me to defensive line drills. Tell me what you need done.’ He’s getting college looks at linebacker, sack record, all-state, and he didn’t say a word about it.”

And here it is, happening again. Charlie Spegal has all the yards, the touchdowns, the attention. Last year it was Luke Canfield with the yards (1,764), the touchdowns (29). This year he's waiting for action at cornerback, playing special teams, watching and cheering the offense.

“Luke’s another in a long line of great players who has found a way to make our team better,” Ralph says. “Is he scoring the touchdowns and getting his face in the newspaper? No, he’s not. What he’s doing makes our team better, and helps us win games. I’m really proud of him.”